Hiya! Well my bride-to-be has asked me for this cake (I hope the attached works ok!).
Im pretty competent but Im struggling to see how to start this! I have 2 months but I fear that time will pass quickly! Can anybody offer some advice?

Im assuming it would be handiest to carve the cake into a cone and just use huge choc wraps (or choc modelling paste maybe?) I think the wraps are long angled rectangles rather than big triangles, what do you think?

Do you think those wraps go right from the bottom up to the top? That seems pretty hard to manoeuvre if they are- though I cant see any way they could be joined...

What would you say about transport; hire a taller van or build in a half way join so it can go in two pieces? Maybe that ideas just wishful thinking though as the curling wraps probably wouldnt match up very well would they...

It can be part dummy if itll help (but shhhhh dont tell the guests!)

Hope you can help, normally I hide behind detail so this could be a real tough one for me!

Thanks for reading,
Gray

Okay, potentially don't listen to what I think as my cakes are nowhere near as good as yours! I would also think they are long rectangles and it looks like in the front, the first few rows that are against the roses just possibly go up a bit and then stop up underneath the roses. Then as you get lower and the edges of the strips go higher it looks like they wrap around and stop on the upper side of the lower row of roses. So I'm guessing you would just use the strip of roses as your take off and stopping point for the long rectangles....I hope that makes sense!

I would probably say modelling paste (it looks more like that to me, but not sure ) rather than chocolate wraps - at least that's what I think I would do with something that large. I would also think to just carve the cake into a cone shape - probably doing the lower part in cake and then however much for the dummy part that you need.

As for transport - I can't comment on that because I haven't had to do that much

Hope that is at least SOMEWHAT helpful!!

Not at all wernie, I was one of the many who saved your wonderful candle cakes recently- just stunning!
Thanks for your thoughts, I wonder if the roses go in first then to create the line and the wrap goes on after with each sheet just following on from the last.... I'm starting to see a method now thank you- I was starting to regret saying "you choose your perfect wedding cake dear and i'll make it for us"!

Would chocolate paste be strong enough to hold its shape like this? what I mean is- do you need to let each wrap firm up before trying the next; I feel like I'd like to go ahead with the next wrap quickly so that if/when I distort the sheet/s already on the cake with a clumsy hand I can fix it while still soft.... is that how working with choc paste goes?

One other wee general Q; if I trial this on a dummy with choc paste can it be re-kneeded and reused after or does become unusable like fondant/gum paste etc?

You may wish to take a look at a 50 second teaser video by Paul Bradford on how he constructs his chocolate wave cakes.

http://www.designer-cakes.com/

(You can also purchase a month of full video/tutorial viewing for $9.95 (UK).

Although it is a different technique, it may give you enough information that you could then modify the techniques and materials to make your cake as shown above. Paul Bradford does use a styrofoam cone for the tops of his cakes.

The cake shown in your photo is fascinating. I'll be following this thread with great interest! I wish you well!!!

I did it! lots of trials and 8lb of modeling choc but it worked, maybe I'm my worst critic but there were things that will forever annoy me! At least my little wife was happy

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2400199/well-i-made-my-own-wedding-cake

Thanks everyone for your help, couldn't have done this without you!!

Great job! I really like it

I'm like that too - always seeing things that I wish I did differently or that I think aren't so great - but you're right, we are our own worst critics! I'm sure everyone thought it was spectacular. Thanks for posting the partially done photos. So how did you end up doing it then? Sorry I can't quite tell from the photos. Did you wrap pieces around until they reached the other side, then cover up some of the 'seams' with roses? I'm interested to find out

Good point- the pic doesnt help much! lol

Once the cone was done and covered roughly in fondant (royal for the Styrofoam pointy section) I used string to line exactly where I wanted my spiral of roses to go, I measured this and that tells you how long the 1st strip of modelling choc needs to be, then I cut one long strip (mine was around 4 feet) and attached it top to bottom following the string- that was hard, took several trys and it almost tore but thats pretty easy to repair compared to fondant so long as you smooth on a little kneeded modelling choc into the cracks right away and not leave repairs until the very end when its cooled and air dried a bit. You can see in the pic I then smoothed the strip down so there were no lumps visible when I went to lay the next strip on top.

So then I just took off the string and used it to measure the length of the next strip spiralling it top to bottom overlapping the strip below about 2-3 inches so that if you look down the gaps you see modelling choc not white fondant. Each strip gets shorter and shorter so easier to manage. Then a big line of ivory royal holds the roses in place.

Man that sounds easy writing it like that!

Crazy-Gray~~F...A...B...U...L...O...U...S...

Congratulations on your wedding!

That is breathtaking. I can't tell you how tickled I am that you posted back AND gave instructions. I love the way you swirled the tablecloth to mimic the cake design, nice touch!

Now.....How did you cut that sucker to serve to the guests? Come on! We need details. How did you transport it? Hire-a-van? How heavy was it?

Lol Apti well I decided just to make it as tall as my wee car could handle, saved a lot of stress and van hire cost!

So it's just over 3feet tall with about 2 feet of styrofoam (bought in a cone shape so no precise cutting needed!) the base cake is 14inch and I carved the stack to match the angle of the cone (went off a bit though grrrrrrr). It was pretty heavy for a three tier but not unmanageable (for a big strong bloke full of wedding eve stress he he).

As for cutting: two words... Caterers problem! Actually they were great in advising how they'd like to be able to take it apart: every three roses is a cake board so they could run a knife round and just lift off (there is central dowel but it didn't hinder). I did make a sheet cake for back up with modeling choc on the sides just in case but it wasn't needed so I just gave it to the venue staff (who were lovely and totally deserved it).

Really loved the cake and I think it lived up to expectations! I'm going to make one 100percent dummy for my first wedding stall... Hope this one wasn't all luck!

This is absolutely stunning! Thank you thank you for the tutorial! I have never used modeling chocolate but this inspires me! Might have to try this (maybe!)

Curious, can the design be done in fondant?